News

Nicola attends the FSB roadshow

In October our Managing Director, Nicola Mellor, was invited to participate in a panel discussion for the FSB (National Federation of Self Employed & Small Businesses Ltd) roadshow in Leeds. The discussion was based around the idea of female entrepreneurship, which is the reason Nicola (who established hellomint by herself in 2013) was asked to take part.

The title of the panel discussion that Nicola was involved in was ‘Challenges and Opportunities for Women’s Entrepreneurship’. At the beginning of the discussion Nicola gave an overview of the different kinds of difficulties that can specifically face female entrepreneurs and how she was able to not only overcome them, but in some cases turn them into an advantage.

The aim of the panel discussion was to explore how female entrepreneurs can further develop the skills to support their business to grow. It was also an attempt to draw attention to the role larger companies and the government can play in providing, sharing and supporting training and skills acquisition amongst female business owners. The panel were encouraged to share their thoughts on how to inspire and cultivate the next generation of women business owners and this brought forward a variety of suggestions involving education, female role models and business support.

Nicola enthused: “I am passionate about the fact that female entrepreneurs should be able to establish their businesses as easily and successfully as men. Unfortunately, women often face a lot more obstacles in business than their male counterparts and I think it’s great that events like the FSB roadshow offer advice and help for women to overcome these issues.”

“I was honoured to be invited to share my experience with everyone who attended, hopefully we will have been able to motivate some aspiring female entrepreneurs with our stories about how it’s possible to be a successful woman in business.”

Nicola is looking forward to taking part as a speaker in many more events of this kind in the near future.